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GENERATOR_LIFECYCLE.md

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Generator lifecycle, control, and Victron ownership

Scope

This document combines the original passive lifecycle evidence with follow-on live validation of the exact generator START/STOP commands and the Victron connected-genset integration. The baseline capture remains reproducible and should not be rewritten to imply observations it did not contain.

Signal definitions

CAN ID DLC Meaning Decode / enum Status
0x02460B88 1 generator command 01=START, 02=STOP semantics confirmed in capture; both payloads live-tested TX
0x02440B88 1 generator lifecycle/status 00=OFF_IDLE, 01=RUNNING_SETTLED, 02/03=STARTING, 04/05=STOPPING confirmed grouping
0x005A1020 8 generator-specific frequency bytes 0-1 uint16LE * 0.1 Hz confirmed field; generator-specific in follow-on test
0x02040898 8 shared/common AC telemetry bytes 0-1 BE V, 2-3 BE Hz not sufficient for generator state

02440B88#06/#07 remain abort/error candidates.

Exact live-tested commands

cansend can2 02460B88#01   # START
cansend can2 02460B88#02   # STOP

The production bridge emits these only for an accepted Victron /Start transition. It sends one command and no automatic retry.

START progression

Victron or physical START
    |
    +-- 02460B88#01 ------------------------------> STARTING
    +-- 02440B88#02/#03 --------------------------> STARTING confirmed
    +-- 005A1020 ~= 50 Hz, held 3 s --------------> RUNNING
    +-- 02440B88#01 ------------------------------> RUNNING_SETTLED

The baseline capture shows the same receive-side progression. A late #02/#03 after nominal frequency must not regress RUNNING back to STARTING.

STOP progression

Victron or physical STOP
    |
    +-- 02460B88#02 ------------------------------> STOPPING
    +-- 02440B88#05/#04 --------------------------> STOPPING confirmed
    +-- 005A1020 = 0.0 Hz ------------------------> STOPPED
    +-- 02440B88#00 ------------------------------> OFF_IDLE

The baseline capture ends at 0 Hz / STOPPED; #00 was confirmed in later live work.

Generator-specific frequency finding

The original capture required context gating because AC source switching also changed 0x1020-related telemetry. Follow-on live testing separated the signals more clearly: while the generator was OFF and shore remained present, 005A1020 stayed at 0.0 Hz while 02040898 still reported approximately 235 V / 50 Hz. Bridge v5.4.1 therefore treats 005A1020 as the generator-specific running milestone and 02040898 as shared/fallback AC telemetry.

Physical state to Victron /StatusCode

Bridge physical state StatusCode
UNKNOWN / stopped idle 0 once settled evidence is available
STARTING 1
RUNNING 8
RUNNING_SETTLED 8
STOPPING 9
STOPPED 0
OFF_IDLE 0
actual error 10 only when genuinely known

D-Bus ownership rule

The connected-genset service is:

com.victronenergy.genset.scheiber

Victron dbus-generator discovers it and creates the normal connected-genset manager, typically:

com.victronenergy.generator.startstop1

The key ownership rule is:

  • genset /Start is command state owned by Victron;
  • physical CAN feedback never assigns /Start locally;
  • genset /StatusCode is actual physical feedback;
  • an externally observed Scheiber START is adopted by setting manager /ManualStart=1;
  • the manager's resulting /Start=1 write is accepted but its duplicate CAN START is suppressed;
  • an externally observed STOP clears /ManualStart only when the manager is manually owning the run, preserving automatic conditions.

This is what allows native Victron autostart logic, manual runs, timed runs, runtime accounting, and physical feedback to coexist.

Timed-run validation

A native Victron timed run was exercised end-to-end. During the run:

/ManualStart = 1
/ManualStartTimer > 0 and counting down
/RunningByCondition = 'manual'
/RunningByConditionCode = 1
/Runtime increasing
com.victronenergy.genset.scheiber /Start = 1
/StatusCode = 8

At timer expiry, Victron changed /Start to 0; the bridge transmitted exactly one 02460B88#02; Scheiber reported #05/#04, then 005A1020=0.0 Hz, and the bridge confirmed STOPPED.

Current gui-v2 may display only the timer icon/elapsed runtime and no longer exposes the older live +/- duration controls. That is a UI change, not a missing bridge capability. /ManualStartTimer remains a writable manager path.

CLI type warning

Do not write a timer as a string. With the Venus dbus CLI, a plain 12000 can be interpreted as a string; %12000 is an integer variant. A string timer can crash dbus-generator when it decrements the value. Prefer the UI.

Manager restart recovery

A dbus-generator restart recreates startstop1 and can initialize the remote /Start to zero. Without guarding, that initialization can look like a real STOP while the physical engine is already running.

Bridge v5.4.1 therefore caches manager manual/timer/condition state and, when the manager disappears while STARTING/RUNNING:

  1. arms a 30 s recovery guard;
  2. suppresses replacement-manager initialization /Start=0 from CAN;
  3. restores a numeric /ManualStartTimer first when appropriate;
  4. restores /ManualStart=1;
  5. waits for the manager to synchronize /Start=1 and suppresses the duplicate CAN command;
  6. then returns to normal command handling.

This recovery path was observed working in live logs.

Post-stop OFF_IDLE caveat

STOPPED at 0 Hz means the engine/frequency has stopped, but the Scheiber controller may still be settling. In live testing, 02440B88#00 arrived roughly a minute later. A START sent about 15 s after STOP, before #00, was transmitted but ignored. A later START from OFF_IDLE succeeded normally.

Bridge v5.4.1 does not queue such an early START. The current operational rule is: after a stop, wait for OFF_IDLE before requesting another start. A future version can queue one Victron START until #00 without changing the manager timer semantics.

Startup resynchronization

If the bridge restarts while the generator is already running, it attempts to recover physical state instead of assuming OFF. Generator-specific nominal 005A1020 is the strongest evidence. Two high-AC samples from 00501020 are also used as a fast startup hint during a limited resync window; they are not treated as the sole steady-state generator proof.

Safety boundary

The live-tested production transmit surface is intentionally narrow:

02460B88#01
02460B88#02

The bridge does not transmit source-selection requests, does not replay unresolved companion frames, and does not retry START/STOP automatically. Existing generator hardware protections remain authoritative. Live success on one installation is not an OEM protocol specification.